The D.C. City Council is expecting to make a decision in the coming week on a controversial new smoking bans. Already smokers are barred from lighting up in bars, taxis, and any indoor place really, but now the great outdoors may become taboo for them as well. The smoking ban would make it illegal to smoke in any of Washington’s federal parks, from Farragut Square to the National Mall to Rock Creek Park. The ban would also forbid smokers from enjoying their hobby within 25 feet of a playground. At this point in the course of human history, we are all well aware of the health dangers from smoking, as well as the danger of secondhand smoke. However there is also something to be said for individual freedoms for people who make the conscious decision to take up smoking. Policy experts Tess VandenDolder and Anthony Sodd weigh in.
Anthony: Absolutely should be banned. If I can’t drink a beer on the sidewalk, why should smokers be able to smoke a cigarette? If we’re going to ban vices that are harmful, then ban them all! In all seriousness though, it really sucks when you’re breathing in other people’s smoke while trying to relax at the park or wait for the bus. I don’t care if you smoke, but realize that your vice has ramifications for others as well. My baby shouldn’t have to breath other people’s smoke because we’re both waiting for the same bus– just be polite.
Tess: The second-hand smoke is the reason why smoking has been banned in all closed places. But this is outside we’re talking about. In the air. Which moves, and you share with everyone on the planet. I’m no physicist, but I really don’t understand how banning smoking in a park but not on the sidewalk five feet away is going to make much of a difference when it comes to overall public health.
Anthony: Well fine, smoking outside doesn’t hurt anyone, and neither do coal power plants. They’re both outside and nothing bad has EVER happened because the magical properties of moving air makes all the bad go away. Look, I don’t care if people smoke, I just don’t want to smell their stanky asses.
Tess: Then don’t stand next to them. Plus we have the whole issue of creeping on individual rights. A smoker has the right to their own bad habit, Congress has already validated that. And they have been restricted in their right to that habit in most public places. The outdoors are a smokers last safe haven. I’m not sure where you expect them to go if you take that away too.
Anthony: Don’t stand next to them? They’re the ones creating a negative externality! The law is simply saying that smokers are not allowed to stand next to me. The smoker has the right to their habit, but they don’t have the right to force me to participate. I love me a Manhattan, but I’m not allowed to shove it down somebody’s throat at the bus stop. Smoke away smokers, I don’t want to take any rights from you– but please don’t shove it down my throat.
Clearly a contentious issue. One can’t help but imagine though, with smokers making up a constantly shrinking segment of the American population whether or not this debate is on its last legs. Perhaps soon we’ll see outdoor smoking bans across America, like the smoking in bars ban a decade ago. Only time will tell.
What do you think? Should smoking be banned from Washington’s green places? Let us know in your thoughts below.
[Image via the Independent]
